Apple Pay launched in the UK without the participation of most of the major banks, including HSBC, which was listed as a launch partner, but this morning faced customers taking to social media to complain that they can’t use the app.

Vodafone Wallet users will soon be able to make contactless card payments with their smartphones, the operator has announced. The telco has entered into partnerships with financial services firm Visa and transaction technology provider Carta Worldwide to offer the NFC SIM-based solution through the Vodafone Wallet app.

The global mobile money market will be worth $78 billion by 2019, according to research by MarketsandMarkets. The report, titled Mobile Money Market- Global Forecast to 2019, claimed the market will grow at an annual compound growth rate (CAGR) of 44.6% from last year’s total of $12.34 billion.

Jeff Fonseca, the Regional Sales Director, Americas at chip vendor NXP has told Telecoms.com the entire telecoms industry needs to focus on ensuring the IoT delivers real value to consumers. Talking at the Mobile World Congress 2015, Fonseca said that while IoT has become an industry buzzword, the security and user simplicity of connected devices should be of paramount importance.

Speaking to Telecoms.com at Mobile World Congress 2015 Remi de-Fouchier, Marcomms VP of Gemalto’s telecom business unit, insisted the issues raised by the latest round of Snowden revelations are more to do with privacy than security.

Apple added a bit more substance to its Apple Watch announcement, ahead of its impending launch, at an event in California. However the unique qualities expected by many to significantly differentiate this Apple wearable from the many others already announced were conspicuously absent.

CaixaBank, one of Spain’s largest banks, has moved into the wearable payment technology space with the launch of an NFC-enabled wristband capable of making contactless payments. Security vendor Gemalto has supplied its Optelio Contactless MiniTag, which links the wristband to the user’s existing payment card.

Apple has been in a holding pattern for the past three years and has finally revealed a bunch of stuff it has been working on for a while. The two new phones feature the first major industrial design overhaul since the iPhone 4 and the Apple watch seems likely to significantly raise the bar in the wearables category. But the most significant announcement is probably Apple Pay, not just for Apple, but for the catalysing effect it could have on mobile commerce on the whole.

Apple today announced an unprecedented range of additions to its product catalogue, including the iPhone 6, 6 Plus, Apple Pay and Apple Watch. The keynote session in Cupertino, California, saw the unveiling of new NFC mobile payment capabilities to be built as standard into the new models, and the launch of the Apple’s foray into the wearable technology space with Apple Watch, as widely anticipated.

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